Reed organ



Nov. 13, 1962 F. H. MAGNUS 3,063,326

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United States Patent Ofifice 3,063,326 Patented Nov. 13, 1962 3,063,326 REED ORGAN Finn H. Maguns, Essex Fells, N.J., assignor to Magnus Organ Corporation, Livingston, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 24, 1959, Ser. No. 829,296 11 Claims. (Cl. 84-351) The invention relates to organs employing reeds tuned to different pitches and which are activated by keys to sound different notes or chords.

In one of its aspects the invention relates to such an organ in which a plurality of reed plates are employed, each carrying a series of reeds tuned to different pitches spaced over a selected range in pitch, and wherein particular reeds of each series are to be simultaneously activated when a particular note in said range is to be sounded. One of the objects of the invention as applied to reeds which are so simultaneously activated, is to enable a vibrato effect to be obtained in the resulting sound, which effect I believe to benovel in respect to instruments of the character here involved. In this aspect the invention also involves a reed box structure and reed plates constructed and correlated to promote the'efficient production and blending of the sound waves set up by the reeds so simultaneously activated when a given note is to be sounded.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide in connection with the sound waves issuing from the reeds which are activated, a chamber which will be effective to produce a substantial mellowing effect in the sound issuing ultimately from the instrument, to the end that the latter may approach more closely the quality of sound produced by pipe organs of high quality. In this latter phase the invention preferably involves special features enabling such a mellowing effect to be obtained regardless of whether the sound produced by the instrument is or is not amplified by the aid of electronic apparatus such as is known in the art.

The invention also comprehends a volume control mechanism for reed organs of the portable type adapted to be supported by a table or stand which, without involving unduly cumbersome or awkward-to-manipulate parts, may be readily operated by the users leg while playing the instrument with his hands.

The invention also involves a key structure and key mounting structure for organs of the above character which will afford anaccurate and easy acting pivotal mounting for the keys, without requiring drilling operations on the keys. The keys also preferably include certain special features to effectively seal the joints at the pallets carried by the keys.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the description hereinafter contained which taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, discloses the invention as embodied in an organ of preferred construction; the disclosure, however, should be considered as merely illustrative of the invention in its broader aspects.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an organ of the type in which the present concept may effectively be utilized;

FIG. 1a is a fragmentary perspective view of the volume control mechanism;

FIG. 1b is a top plan view of the volume control mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the organ of FIG. 1 with certain parts cut away;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 with the outer housing 11 removed for purposes of illustration;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view, partly broken away, of the organ with its outer enclosing casing removed;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of part of a key in assembled relation to a blending chamber outlet;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view showing the key and spindle assembly;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a treble reed box in accordance with the present concept;

FIG. 9 is a sectional View taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 11-11 of FIG. 10;

. FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing detached, the pallet end of a key constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along the line 13-13 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line 14-14 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken along the line 15-15 of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing detached, a preferred form of housing appropriate for securing the sound mellowing effect above referred to;

FIG. 17 is a detail section taken along the line 17-17 of FIG. 16, and in enlarged scale;

FIG. 18 is a top plan view of a key and pallet structure somewhat modified in form as compared to FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 19 is a side elevational view of a key and pallet structure somewhat modified in form as compared to FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 20 is a section taken on line 20-20 of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a top plan view (with certain parts cut away) of the bass or chord section of the instrument, the latter being somewhat modified in construction as compared to the form shown in the already described figures;

FIG. 22 is a side elevational view of the bass or chord section of the instrument illustrated in FIG. 21; and

FIG. 23 is an end elevational view of the bass or chord section of the instrument illustrated in FIGS. 21 and 22.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 to 4 and 13 thereof, the organ is shown as having a baseboard 10 which supports the structure as a whole. The disclosed organ is of the portable type, adapted to be supported by a table or stand 9 (FIG. 1) at a level convenient for playing by a seated operator. An outer housing 11 surrounds the sound producing mechanism of the organ, and within this housing there is another housing 11a (FIG. 13) having a chamber 12 into which air for the reeds may be drawn through appropriate openings 14 by a rotary blower 15 powered by motor 16 as indicated in general in FIG. 13.

A piano type keyboard is positioned above this chamber 12 and is shown as comprising the longer white keys 17 (FIG. 1) and the shorter black keys 19 arranged in chromatic order. This piano type keyboard may cover the treble range or any desired part thereof, the illustrated form being arranged to cover the range from C one octave below middle C to the C which is two octaves above middle C. The key structure and mounting will be later described in more detail.

The air delivered by the blower 15 passes upwardly 3 through an elongated opening (FIGS. 2 and 13) in a stepped top wall 21 of the chamber 12, into an air chest 22 which overlies the rear portion of the chamber 12 behind and below the piano type keyboard, and extends the full length of this keyboard.

A treble reed box 24 overlies the air chest 22 (FIGS. 2, 8-11 and 13), a pad 25 of felt or the like (FIG. 10) being interposed in the joint between the air chest 22 and the bottom of an L-shapcd flange 23 (FIG. 13) surrounding and extending downwardly from the upper portion of the reed box.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 to 11, the treble reed box 24 is shown as being in general W-like in cross-section, the inner reentrant walls 26 thereof being formed with juxtaposed or correspondingly positioned slots 27 (FIG. 10). Secured to the outer surfaces of these walls 26 (which are exposed to the air chest 22) are reed plates 28a (FIG. 19) each carrying a series of tuned reeds 29 respectively alined with slots 28b extending through the reed plates, these slots being respectively alined with the slots 27 in walls '26. The reed box is provided with transverse partitions 30 (FIG. 10) interposed between the successive reeds of the two series of reeds and extending between the inner and outer walls 26 and 28, respectively, of the reed box, thereby defining juxtaposed chambers 30a (FIG. 10) each of which receives the sound waves set up when its corresponding reed 22 is activated.

Preferably the inner walls of reed box 24 extend up wardly only to a level slightly above the tops of slots 27, where the inner walls are connected by a bridge piece 31 (FIG. 10) while the outer walls and the partitions 30 are further extended upwardly to the slots 32a (FIGS. 10 and 11) which are opened and closed by the pallets of the keys as later more fully described. This construction provides a blending chamber 32 (FIGS. 10 and 11) communicating with each pair of corresponding chambers 30a, in which chamber 32 the sound waves issuing from the corresponding chambers 30a when the corresponding pallet is open, may mix and blend before reaching the pallet. It is found that these blending chambers markedly augment the richness of the resulting sound. Also the chambers 30a preferably enlarge gradually in cross-section toward their upper delivery ends as shown in FIG. 10, and the chamber 32 is larger in cross-section as compared thereto, which is found to produce better resonance in the resulting sound.

In the use of a treble reed box as above described, whenever a key is depressed to produce a given note of the scale, air streams flow in parallel so to speak, past the correspondingly positioned reeds of the two series of reeds which are served by the correspondingly positioned chambers 30a and by the corresponding blending chamber 32, so that the resulting sound is the joint product so to speak, of the reeds which are thus simultaneously activated. It is found that by proper displacement in pitch of one of these reeds with respect to the other, a vibrato effect in the resulting sound will be secured. If one series of reeds is tuned respectively to the pitches of successive semi-notes of the scale for example according to so called International pitch, the above mentioned vibrato effect will be obtained if the reeds of the other series are respectively oflset in pitch with respect to the respectively corresponding reeds of the first series, by an amount ranging between about eight hundreths and forty hundredths of a semitone. Preferably the displacement in pitch for the three octave instrument is of the order of ten hundredths of a semitone in the upper register, gradually decreasing to about thirty hundredths in the lower register. In respect to this last discussed phase of the invention, my copending US. application Serial No. 767,311 filed October 11, 1958, contains certain subject matter in common with the present application.

As shown in FIG. 13, the two series of reed plates are symmetrically disposed with reference to air entering the air chest 22, so that when correspondingly positioned reeds are activated, the air is distributed substantially equally therebetween. Also the reeds preferably are positioned somewhat out of the direct path of flow of air entering the air chest 22 through opening 20. This tends to prolong the useful life of the reeds, particularly when as is preferred, the reed plates and reeds are integrally molded of polystyrene. Such reeds may be initially molded to tune, avoiding the need of subsequent individual tuning operations. Preferably the opening 20 terminates somewhat short of the lower treble reeds to prevent the sound produced by the latter from being too loud in relation to the upper part of the treble register. The disclosed construction, by distributing the air sub stantially equally between the corresponding reeds of the two series, and by positioning the reeds out of the direct path of the air stream entering the air chest 22, avoids turbulence and local eddy currents in the streams of air passing the reeds, to thereby avoid distortion and blurring of the resulting sound.

The keys 17 and 19 are pivotally mounted upon a spindle 34- extending along the treble keyboard, and are respectively provided with extensions 17a and 19a, respectively (FIG. 11), which act as pallets, overlying the slots 32a which are respectively in line therewith. As shown in FIGS. 5, 7 and 13, spring 35, preferably of the helical type, are provided above the keys 17 and 19 and bear at one end against a bar 36 which extends parallel to the keyboard and has sockets appropriate to receive the spring ends. Tue keys are also provided with pockets 37 to receive the other ends of the springs. Brackets 37a at the opposite ends of bar 36 hold it in place. A pad 39 (FIGS. 2, 8, l0 and 11) of felt or the like may overlie the reed box 24, the pad being slotted as at 40 to expose the slots 32a. The key extensions 17a and 19a engage the pad 39 when idle, the structure being preferably provided with sharp raised lips 17b which surround the slots 32a to seal the chambers 32 more effectively against the leakage of air past the pallets. When any particular key is depressed, its pallet is moved away from the corresponding slot 32a, thus affordin the passage of sound producing air from the air chest 22 through the slots 27 past the corresponding reeds 29 and then through the corresponding chambers 30a and 32.

The sound waves emanating from such of the elongated openings .-0 as are uncovered from time to time by their respective pallets, pass into the interior of a housing 41 (FIG. 13) or 4 1a (FIG. 16) which encloses the space exterior to the pallet members and outlet openings 40. This housing has side walls bounding the area occupied by such pallet openings, and a wall facing said outlet openings and pallet members which is properly spaced therefrom to cause a substantial sound mellowing elfect to be produced within the chamber provided by housing 41 or 41a. For example in the illustrated instrument the reeds of the two series may range in length between about 1 /2" for the C below middle C, down to about /2" for the C which is two octaves about middle C, and it is found that the chamber under discussion will have an optimum sound mellowing effect if the wall of the chamber which faces the pallets is spaced about 2%" therefrom, although a substantial sound mellowing effect would still be obtained if this spacing were varied between 1 /z"5. Bearing in mind the sound mellowing effect to be produced and using the above stated dimensions as a guide, a chamber of depth appropriate for such purposes in an instrument of given size and volume of air flow, may readily be determined by trying out housings 41 or 41a of different depths, such housings being readily made and applied.

When the sound is to be amplified as later referred to in more detail, the housing 41 (FIGS. 4 and 13) or 41a (FIG. 16) may be provided with a microphone which is preferably located at the higher treble register portion of the sound mellowing chamber. It is found that such location best promotes uniform amplification of sound throughout the range of pitch of the various notes produced from time to time.

When the sound is not to be so amplified, housing 41 of the type shown in FIGS. 4 and 13 will preferably be removed to avoid undue mufiling of the sound emanating from the instrument. But when, as is preferred, a housing of the type shown at 41a in FIG. 16 is employed, the mellowing effect above referred to may be secured both with and without amplification, and without undue mufiling of the sound when the latter is not to be amplified. Referring now more particularly to the housing 41a as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the wall thereof which faces the pallets is shown as provided with a series of restricted sound emitting openings 99 therethrough, which respectively serve the portions of the sound mellowing chamber in which the various pallets are disposed. If these openings 99 are in the form of narrow slits as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, they may be understood as being of a width of the order of .02., to the end that when amplification is not being used, the sound will be mellowed within the housing 41a, and yet sufiicient sound will pass outwardly through the housing to avoid an unduly mufiled effect. On the other hand the openings 99 will not interfere with efiicient amplification. Here again, bearing the above stated objectives in mind, sound emitting openings of dimensions appropriate for an instrument of given size and power, may readily be determined by test, using the above suggested dimensions as a guide.

A chord type bass keyboard is mounted at the lefthand end of and approximately in line with the piano type keyboard, as shown in my aforementioned copending application. Preferably this keyboard comprises alined rows of keys constituted by buttons 42 on levers 44 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4) which are pivotally mounted on shafts 45 extending along the keyboard, these levers being provided with integral extensions 44a which serve as pallets similar to the extensions 17a and 19a already described. These buttons 42 are similar in mode of operation to the keys 1'7 and 19 except that each button 42 and its corresponding lever 44 will usually serve a group of reeds producing a selected chord so that various chords for accompanying various melodies may be produced by operation of buttons 42.

The chord type keyboard may be served by an air chest 46 (FIGS. 3 and 13) on the top wall 47 of which the rows of buttons 42 are mounted. The air chest 46 is connected by a passageway 49 (FIGS. 3, 13 and 14) to the chamber 12 previously described. Reed boxes 50 (FIGS. 4, 14 and may be mounted on opposite side walls of the air chest 46 and in communication with such chest through slots 51 (FIG. 15 in the side walls, sealing pads 39a of felt or the like being provided. Reed plates 54 carrying reeds 52 (FIGS. 14 and 1 5) are provided with slots 54a therethrough, in alinement with slots 51a on the inner faces of the reed boxes 50. Interior partitions 300 (FIG. 14) similar to interior partitions 30 are also provided, except that the partitions 30c serve several selected reeds in a group as needed to produce a selected chord. Each individual chamber 30d (FIG. 15) thus defined, overlies several sub-chambers 30e (FIG. 15 formed by partial partitions 30], each sub-chamber serving a single reed. These sub-chambers merge at their upper regions into the relatively large blending chamber 30d and each blending chamber has an opening 55 (FIG. 15 therethrough at the top to cooperate with its corresponding pallet.

It will be seen that depresion of one of the buttons 42 sounds a chord by affording a flow of air from the air chest 46 to past selected reeds 52 and into the several corresponding sub-chambers defined by the partial partitions 30 thence into the blending chamber 32d and finally out of the opening uncovered by a pallet 44a.

The housing 11 indicated in FIG. 1 has a top opening 56 extending along over the length of both keyboards and a series of slots 57 located above the chord keyboard, the

6 chord buttons 42 being exposed through openings in a shelf 59 (FIG. 1).

Electronic sound amplification and reproduction may be afforded by the aid of microphones 60. Preferably one such microphone is mounted within the inner housing 41 or 41a as previously described and others may be mounted just below the bass reed boxes 50 (FIGS. 3 and 15 these microphones being shown as connected to an outlet connector 61 (FIG. 3).

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show in detail a key 17 constructed in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. This key may be conveniently constructed of molded plastic such as polystyrene and has a plate-like body member 62 and a pair of flanges 64 depending from the bottom surface of the body member to form a downwardly facing channel. The key has slots 65 extending downwardly from the top surface of the body member to a point within the flanges, the slots being of a width at least equal to the thickness of the respective flanges. Such a construction thereby defines a pivotal bearing for the key consisting in part of the walls of the flanges at the lower ends of the slots, and in part of the lower surface of the plate-like member 62 between the slots. The key may be molded with curve surfaced lugs 66 projecting down from the under surface of the plate-like member, inwardly of the slots (PEG. 6). These lugs may be formed with concavely shaped lower portions and may thus cooperate with walls of the flanges beneath the slots to define circular bearings for the spindle 34. The slots 65 and the lugs 66 may both be readily formed by molding, thus the key bearings require no drilling or other machining operations. It will be appreciated that keys formed as described may be mounted side by side on the spindle 34, a spring 67 bearing between a bracket 37a and the end key 17 (FIGS. 2, 6 and 7) at one end of the treble keyboard, other intermediate supports 69 (FIG. 4) for the spindle being provided so that it may be slid endwise into operating position.

Turning now to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 13, there is shown mechanism operable by the organist to control the volume of sound produced. As previously stated, air is drawn into the casing through the opening 14 in the bottom thereof by the blower 15.

This blower 15 comprises a plurality of vanes 74 (FIGS. 3 and 13) connected to the central hub 75 which is in turn mounted on the motor shaft for rotation therewith. Cage 76 (FIG. 13) surrounds the vanes to direct the air upwardly to the chamber 12 and is carried atop a housing 77 (FIG. 13) which is mounted on the baseboard 10, enclosing the motor with its interior in communication with the air intake openings 14 (FIG. 13).

The flow of air to the blower is controlled by a throttle mechanism, one embodiment of which is shown in FIGS. 1a. 1b, 3 and 13. Mounted just under the opening 14 is a stationary plate 79 formed with a series of similar arcuately spaced openings 80. A second plate 81 lies against the plate 79 but is movable about an axis passing through the centers of both plates, this second plate being formed with a series of spaced openings 82 similar to the openings 80 (FIG. 1b). The movable plate 81 also has a radially extending arm 83, the end of which constitutes a hand grip for angularly adjusting the plate 81 relatively to the plate 79 between limit stops carried by the plate 79. Such movement adjusts the openings 82 between positions of minimum and maximum register with openings 80, so that the flow of air through the blower may be more or less constricted to regulate the volume of sound produced.

It is frequently desirable that the volume be adjusted continuously during rendition and a hand operated control is undesirable for this purpose since both hands may be required at the keyboard. The present concept includes mechanism whereby the air throttle already described may be controlled by lateral movement of the organists knee or leg so that no pedals are required, thus F? eliminating considerable of the bulky understructure usu ally associated with organs, and enabling the instrument to be paced upon a table top, for example as shown in FIG. 1.

This knee action control comprises a knee bar 86 supported by pin 36a (FIG. 1a) in such a manner that it may be held either in the vertical position shown in FlG. 1a or the horizontal position shown in FIG. 4. The pin 86a is carried by a horizontal link 87 and the left end of link 87 as viewed in FIGS. 1a, 1b and 3 has a slot 89 of angular shape in which slidingly engages a pin 93 mounted on the arm '84. A further link 91 is pivotally connected at one end to the baseboard by a bolt 92, and to the bar 87 at 94. A tension spring 95' is connected at one end to the right end of the link 87 as viewed and at the other end to the end of the link 91. opposite the pivot 94.

When the parts are in the position shown in FIG. 10. wherein the pin 96 is locked to link 87, the spring 95 tends to maintain this locked condition, and also urges link 87 to the left until arm 84 engages the stop 85' which corresponds to minimum volume. Also if the operator by knee action pushes bar 86 to the right from the position shown in FIG. 1a this will increase the volume, the movement further tensioning spring 95. When the volume is to be reduced, the operators knee is moved to the left to the extent desired and the spring 95' moves the parts back toward the throttled position shown in FIG. 1a, as far as the position of the operators knee will permit. Should it be desirable to disengage the knee bar from control of the movable plate 81, the organist merely presses a release button 96, shifting the link 87 and slot 89 relatively to the pin fit) so that the pin is freely movable in the long leg of the slot 89. The plate 81 may then be set to the volume desired by direct manipulation of the arm 84- which will remain as manually set, the spring 95 being then ineffective to vary the setting, since the pin and slot then have a lost motion connection. In the position shown in FIG. 1a the heel 86a on the knee bar 86 acts as a stop holding the latter against further pivotal movement toward the right, and except when it is to be used, this bar may be swung to the left from the position shown in FIG. 1a, up under the link 87, and releasably held in that position by an appropriate spring clip (not shown). Thus the control mechanism will be out of the way when not in use, and may be readily adjusted to the position shown in FIG. 1a where it will enable the operator to conveniently control the volume by sidewise movement of his leg, without involving unduly cumbersome parts.

FIGS. 18 to 20 illustrate a key 180 which is similar in principle to the keys 17 or 19 already described, but with the structural form of the bearing by which this key 100 is supported on spindle 34 somewhat modified. The key 100 has a body 62a and flanges 64a similar to member 62 and flanges 64 of the key 17 or 19 (FIGS. 4, 5 and 6) but the flanges 64a are formed with slots 65a extending upwardly from the bottoms of the flanges to points within those flanges. Between the slots 65a, the body of the key has a slot 65b extending downwardly from the upper surface of the key and terminating within the material of the key to provide a molded lug 66a (FIGS. 19 and 20) interior wall portions at the bottom of slot 65b which are complementary in surface curvature to the wall portions which are at the upper ends of the slots 65a, to define accurate bearings for the spindle 34. As with the keys 17 and 19, the key 100 may be readily formed by molding polystyrene or equivalent plastic, since the upper part of the mold which defines the slot 65b and the other upwardly facing surfaces of the key may be withdrawn from the molded key by upward movement with respect to the key; while the part of the mold which forms the slots 65a and other downwardly facing surfaces of the key, may be withdrawn from the molded key by relative downward movement with respect to the key. The same is true of the form of key shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Thus the key bearings require no drilling or other machining operations. "the keys above described may be adapted as black or white keys by appropriately shaping the finger engaging portions thereof, FIGS. 18 to 20 illustrating a black key by way of example. The key extension a is formed similarly to extension 17a already described, including the sharp raised lip 17b and the spring socket 37.

FIGS. 21 to 23 illustrate a modification of the chord or bass section wherein the air chest 46a, instead of extending all the way down to the baseboard 19, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, is provided with a bottom wall 101 spaced above the baseboard 10 to provide a passage 101a which extends underneath the air chest 46a from front to rear. A partition 104 is interposed rearwardly of the bass section, between it and the adjacent rear wall of the outer housing 11, the upper end of this partition being provided with a forwardly extending flange 164a (FIG. 23) which overlies the pallets of the adjacent row of keys 4-2, in such manner that sound waves emanating from the rear bass reed box 50a may pass downwardly in the space rearwardly of air chest 46a and then forwardly through the passage 101a to mingle with the sound waves emanating from the forward bass reed box 500. In this instance a single microphone 60 located in the forward portion of passage 101a (FIG. 23) will adequately serve both bass reed boxes.

FIGS. 21-23 also show a modified form of bass reed box 50a which may be integrally molded of appropriate plastic such as polystyrene, to provide an upper flange 105 (FIG. 23) which seats upon the upper wall of reed box 46a, and upwardly extending apertured ears 106 which serve as bearings for the rods 107 which pivotally support the keys 42. Thus the bass reed boxes and their attendant parts constitute structural units each of which may be preassembled, installed and detached as a whole. Side flanges 107 on the bass reed boxes may receive screws 108 to hold the reed boxes in place.

While the invention has been disclosed as embodied in an organ of the above-described specific form, it should be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A reed organ of the character described having a keyboard provided with keys for successive half notes of the scale, spindle means extending along said keyboard and mounting said keys for pivotal movement thereabout, means mounting said reeds and providing air passageways therefor, a plurality of series of vibratory reeds having tuned reeds certain of which are to be simultaneously activated when a key of said keyboard is depressed, pallet members carried by said keys and respectively controlling the flow of air through said air passageways and past such reeds to be so simultaneously activated, said last mentioned reeds of the respective series being displaced in pitch by an amount of the order of eight hundredths to forty hundredths of a semitone to thereby produce a vibrato effect in the resulting sound.

2. A reed organ of the character described having a keyboard provided with keys for successive half notes of the scale, spindle means extending along said keyboard and mounting said keys for pivotal movement thereabout, means mounting said reeds and providing air passageways therefor, a plurality of series of vibratory reeds having tuned reeds certain of which are to be simultaneously activated when a key of said keyboard is depressed, pallet members carried by said keys and respectively controlling the flow of air through said air passageway and past such reeds to be so simultaneously activated, the reeds of said series which are to be so simultaneously activated being displaced in pitch from each other by an amount of the order of about eight hundredths of a semitone in the upper treble register up to an amount of the order of about forty hundredths of a semitone in the lower treble register to thereby produce a vibrato effect in the resulting sound over the treble range afforded by the organ.

3. A reed organ of the character described having a reed box provided with a series of reeds tuned to cover different notes of the scale and also formed with a series of elongated outlet openings respectively serving said reeds, keys provided with pallet members respectively serving said outlet openings, and a housing enclosing the space exterior to said pallet members and outlet openings to provide a chamber receiving the air streams issuing from said outlet openings when respectively opened by said pallet members, said housing having side walls bounding the area occupied by said outlet openings and a wall facing said outlet openings and pallet members which is spaced therefrom to cause a sound mellowing effect to be produced within said chamber.

4. A reed organ of the character described having a reed box provided with a series of reeds tuned to cover different notes of the scale and also formed with a series of elongated outlet openings respectively serving said reeds, keys provided with pallet members respectively serving said outlet openings, and a housing enclosing the space exterior to said pallet members and outlet openings to provide a chamber receiving the air streams issueing from said outlet openings when respectively opened by said pallet members, said housing having side walls bounding the area occupied by said outlet openings and a wall facing said outlet openings and pallet members which is spaced therefrom to cause a sound mellowing effect to be produced within said chamber, one of said housing walls having restricted sound emitting openings therethrough which serve successive portions of said chamber in which said series of outlet openings are disposed, to thereby afford the passage of sound Waves outwardly through said housing from said reeds While still maintaining said sound mellowing effect.

5. A reed organ of the character described comprising a housing, a reed box supported within said housing and including a series of vibratory reeds graduated in length to produce respective notes of the treble register when vibrated, the said reeds varying in length in the order of about one and one half inches at the lower register to about one half inch at the upper register over a three octave range, means including individually operable pallets for causing a stream of air to pass respective of said reeds to produce audible vibrations in said air stream, said housing affording therein a chamber overlying said reed box and extending outwardly therefrom to a depth between about one and one half to five inches, whereby the vibratory air streams entering said chamber are therein mellowed, and a series of restricted sound emitting slots in said housing disposed respectively adjacent different reeds of said series to afford the passage of sound waves outwardly through said housing from said reeds while still maintaining said sound mellowing effect.

6. A reed organ of the character described having a reed box provided with a series of reeds tuned to cover different notes of the scale and also having a series of elongated outlet openings respectively serving said reeds, keys provided with pallet members respectively serving said outlet openings, a housing enclosing the space exterior to said pallet members and outlet openings to provide a chamber receiving the air streams issuing from said outlet openings when respectively opened by said pallet members, said housing having side walls bounding the area occupied by said outlet openings and a wall facing said outlet openings and pallet members which is spaced therefrom to cause a sound mellowing effect to be produced within said chamber and a microphone mounted in the higher register portion of said sound mellowing chamber.

7. A reed organ of the character described having an air chest, 2. reed box of W-like cross section disposed in communication with said air chest, juxtaposed series of vibratory reeds respectively extending along walls of said reed box, said walls being formed with openings therethrough affording the flow of air streams past said reeds into the interior spaces respectively defined between the inner walls and the respectively corresponding outer Walls of said reed box, transverse partitions extending across the spaces respectively defined between the inner walls and the respectively corresponding outer walls of the reed box, said partitions being interposed between successive reeds of said series to provide a succession of sets of juxtaposed chambers respectively serving juxtaposed reeds of said series, and pallet member respectively controlling the flow of air through said sets of juxtaposed chambers.

8. A reed organ of the character described having an air chest, a reed box of W-like cross section disposed in communication with said air chest, juxtaposed series of vibratory reeds respectively extending along walls of said reed box, said Walls being formed with openings therethrough affording the flow of air streams past said reeds into the interior spaces respectively defined between the inner walls and the respectively corresponding outer walls of said reed box, transverse partitions extending across the spaces respectively defined between the inner walls and the respectively corresponding outer walls of the reed box, said partitions being interposed between successive reeds of said series to provide a succession of sets of juxtaposed chambers respectively serving juxtaposed reeds of said series, and pallet member respectively controlling the flow of air through sail sets of juxtaposed chambers, said reed box also having successive blending chambers extendingbetween the outer Walls of said reed box and respectively interposed between said sets of juxtaposed chambers and their corresponding pallet members.

9. A reed organ of the character described having a reed box of W-like cross section, an air chest in communication with the exterior of said reed box, juxtaposed series of vibratory reeds respectively extending along the reentrant Walls of said reed box, said Walls being formed with openings therethrough affording the flow of air streams past said reeds into the interior spaces respectively defined between said reentrant walls and the respectively corresponding outer walls of said reed box, transverse partitions extending across the spaces respectively defined between said reentrant walls and the respectively corresponding outer walls of the reed box, said partitions being interposed between successive reeds of said series to provide a succession of sets of juxtaposed chambers respectively serving juxtaposed reeds of said series, said outer Walls and partitions being extended beyond said reentrant walls to provide successive blending chambers respectively communicating with said sets of juxtaposed chambers, and pallet members respectively controlling the flow of air through said blending chambers.

10. A reed organ of the character described having a keyboard provided with keys for different notes of the scale, a reed box provided with a series of reeds to be activated respectively by said keys, pallet members respectively controlled by said keys, said reed box having wall portions formed with openings respectively controlled by said pallet members, which openings are respectively in communication with said reeds, a yieldable facing material interposed between said pallet members and said wall portions which are respectively coordinated therewith, said pallet and wall portion assembly being provided with raised lips bounding said openings and engaging said yieldable facing material to seal the joints at said pallet members.

11. A reed organ of the character described having a baseboard and a housing, an air chest within said housing, reed boxes mounted respectively on the forward and rear portions of said air chest and in communication therewith, vibratory reeds extending along a Wall of each reed box, and pallet members controlling the flow of air streams from said reed boxes, means affording the forward passage of sound Waves emanating from one of said reed boxes to intermingle with sound waves emanating from the other reed bOx, and a microphone disposed in said passage affording means in position to be activated by such intermingled sound Waves.

. afd

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Maag Aug. 21, 1928 Wick Dec. 11, 1934 George June 15, 1937 Ketterrnan June 26, 1941 Links July 10, 1951 Corwin July 22, 1958 Corbett Sept. 23, 1958 Goldhammer May 12, 1959 Corwin Mar. 15, 1960 

